In the mid-1920s, the heyday of silent film, the epic Western swept Hollywood and the nation. Movie moguls sought to add gravitas to their output with the productions—films they argued offered American audiences authentic history and lessons in citizenship at a time when Hollywood faced criticism for its movies’ morals and star scandals. Initially extremely popular, these now nearly forgotten Westerns were hailed by the movie industry’s proponents and critics alike for their “authentic” re...

For fans of Little Blue Truck and Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site comes an adorable electric taxi cab who saves the day in this sweet picture book—with an eco-friendly twist!Eco, the little electric taxi, and his driver, Charlie, work day and night—helping people get where they need to go. On the way to a school drop-off, Eco and Charlie find themselves stuck in a huge traffic jam—there are ducks stranded in the middle of the road! Will Eco...

Eleven years ago, Los Angeles was terrorized by The Sandman, a serial killer who claimed at least twelve women's lives. Young FBI Agent Constantine 'Con' Striker stopped him, but not before enduring a devastating personal loss—his twin sister, Valerie, vanished. He believes that his sister was one of The Sandman's victims. Even after a decade on death row and confessing to twelve murders, The Sandman denies knowing Valerie Striker. Desperate for closure, Con demands the ki...

FBI Agent Constantine Striker has lost everything—his job, his partner, his family—and he's no closer to solving the decade-long mystery of his sister's disappearance.Alex Frost's career is in free fall. Branded a pariah after teaming up with Con, she's one mistake away from being fired.The last thing they need is to work together again. But with Con closing in on his sister's fate and Alex searching for her missing friends after a trip to Mexico, they have...

Los Angeles is once again gripped by fear as a brutal predator stalks the streets. It's up to FBI Agents Constantine "Con" Striker and Alex Frost to stop them. But the case takes a darker turn when the crimes don't cease, even after an arrest is made.As Con battles his own demons and the unresolved fate of his sister Valerie, he must navigate a treacherous path filled with false leads and hidden dangers. The suspect's claims of innocence force Con and Alex to quest...

While Western films can be seen as a mode of American exceptionalism, they have also become a global genre. Around the world, Westerns exemplify colonial cinema, driven by the exploration of racial and gender hierarchies and the progress and violence shaped by imperialism.Transnationalism and Imperialism: Endurance of the Global Western Film traces the Western from the silent era to present day as the genre has circulated the world. Contributors examine th...

Killing the Indian Maiden examines the fascinating and often disturbing portrayal of Native American women in film. Through discussion of thirty-four Hollywood films from the silent period to the present, M. Elise Marubbio examines the sacrificial role of what she terms the "Celluloid Maiden"—a young Native woman who allies herself with a white male hero and dies as a result of that choice. Marubbio intertwines theories of colonization, gender, race, and film studies to ground her...

The outpouring of Native American literature that followed the publication of N. Scott Momaday’s Pulitzer Prize–winning House Made of Dawn in 1968 continues unabated. Fiction and poetry, autobiography and discursive writing from such writers as James Welch, Gerald Vizenor, and Leslie Marmon Silko constitute what critic Kenneth Lincoln in 1983 termed the Native American Renaissance. This collection of essays takes the measure of that efflorescence.The contributors scrutiniz...

The American West is a complex region that has inspired generations of writers and artists. Often portrayed as a quintessential landscape that symbolizes promise and progress for a developing nation, the American West is also a diverse space that has experienced conflicting and competing hopes and expectations. While it is frequently imagined as a place enabling dreams of new beginnings for settler communities, it is likewise home to long-standing indigenous populations as well as many oth...

Each generation revises literary history and this is nowhere more evident than in the post-Second World War period. This 2011 Companion offers a comprehensive, authoritative and accessible overview of the diversity of American fiction since the Second World War. Essays by nineteen distinguished scholars provide critical insights into the significant genres, historical contexts, cultural diversity and major authors during a period of enormous American global political and cultural power. Th...

Bringing together an expansive range of writing by scholars, critics, historians, and filmmakers, The Documentary Film Reader presents an international perspective on the most significant developments and debates from several decades of critical writing about documentary. Each of the book's seven sections covers a distinct period in the history of documentary, collecting both contemporary and retrospective views of filmmaking in the era. And each section is prefaced by an introduc...

National Book Award Finalist: The "impressive" conclusion to the "magisterial trilogy on the mythology of violence in American history" ( Film Quarterly)."The myth of the Western frontier—which assumes that whites' conquest of Native Americans and the taming of the wilderness were preordained means to a progressive, civilized society—is embedded in our national psyche. U.S. troops called Vietnam 'Indian country.' President John Kennedy invoked 'New Frontier...